The girls, the gadgets, the stylish violence and absurd deeds of derring-do… It’s no wonder that the handsome and ruthlessly heroic James Bond has been an icon of masculine wish fulfillment and feminine desire for 50 years. Harry Potter and “Twilight” films might sell more tickets at the moment, but Bond belongs to an elite group of internationally popular, impossible to kill, long-running heroes.

One thing that distinguishes Bond from your Superman, Batman and Sherlock Holmes types is that, with three quirky exceptions, the Bond character has been exclusively handled by the same small, family-owned production company which has maintained a tight creative grip on the franchise since the very first Bond movie. This has led to a remarkable degree of consistency, which can be a mixed blessing.

Keeping things fresh is surely a concern on the upcoming 23rd entry in the series, which was intelligently rebooted with 2006’s “Casino Royale,” but it’s been an issue since the Bond craze first kicked into overdrive with “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball” in the mid-sixties. In fact, there’s something enjoyably ritualistic about the Bond films, which repeat the same elements with just enough variation to keep fans returning film after film, even as they might grumble that the series hasn’t been the same since Sean Connery stopped playing Bond. Without the Bond girls, the amazing stunts, the pre-credit sequence and elaborate credits, and especially the theme, Bond just wouldn’t be Bond.

And so, we at Bullz-Eye will be looking at 007 film by film, with a special emphasis on those key ingredients in the Bond martini, both familiar and hopefully somewhat surprising, that have kept so many of us devoted to the series, movie after movie after movie, year after year after year. We’ll start at the beginning…

“Dr. No” (1962)

The Plot

James Bond, an MI6 spy with a “double O” designation which means he is both an investigator and an occasional assassin with a “license to kill,” is sent to investigate the murder of British operative and his secretary in Jamaica. The man behind it turns out to be a Chinese-German millionaire with an unhealthy interest in America’s space program and scores of expendable extras on his payroll. 007 gets his man, kills a few others, and makes a few new female friends.

There have been many iconic moments in the James Bond films over the years, but Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean onto the beach in the first Bond film, “Dr. No,” may be one of the most memorable. In her portrayal of Honey Ryder, Andress set the standard for the beautiful Bond girls, and the producers smartly made sure to live up to that standard time and again.

We have a clip of the scene below, along with a slideshow with Ursula showing off her bikini body. Check back as we’ll be featuring all of the Bond movies along with many of the best Bond babes from all the films.

Imagine your humble writer as being like James Bond at the beginning of “From Russia With Love,” relaxing with a beverage and a special lady when suddenly the call came in from HQ. I was needed. There would be four vehicles featured in James Bond movies at Comic-Con and, as the guy who’s been working on an upcoming Bond movie series for these here pages at Bullz-Eye, I was just the man for the job.

Of course, this is completely misleading, but I thought I’d pump myself up a bit before we get started. Basically, what this is all about is promotion for the upcoming James Bond Blu-ray set of all 22 extent canonical Bond films (slobber, slobber!). With the help of the good people at the Ian Fleming Foundation, the folks at MGM/Fox were allowing Con-goers to line up for an opportunity to have their pictures taken with these various mean machines.

The only problem was, it’s not like a simple freelancer like me arrives at Comic-Con with a bevy of men’s magazine models and, alas, Bond Booth Babes weren’t in anyone’s budget, it appeared. The thought of forcing innocent readers to view repeated pictures of me in front of four of these machines seemed almost Blofeldian in its wrongness.

Instead, I did the natural thing at Comic-Con. With a little help from my photographin’ pal Rodney Reynaldo, I recruited some of the costumed denizens of the Con to provide the visual pizzazz that I thought I needed. Fortunately, we also have some additional photos.

And so we begin at the beginning….

The Q Boat — This number was featured in the Thames boat chase sequence from 1999’s “The World is Not Enough.” In the film, Bond (as portrayed by Pierce Brosnan) appropriates the boat to give chase to a bad guy who has committed a dastardly murder at a party, though the fact that the event was in honor of good ol’ Q’s retirement adds a slightly ironic note.

I’m not quite sure what kind of note our anime-inspired friends provided, but there they are, along with a shot from the movie, in our gallery. And, yes, you can’t see the front of the vehicle from the shot on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center, but get a load of this shot of the vehicle in action from the movie.

The Ground Parahawk — This snow vehicle also turned up in one of the action sequences in the 1999 Bond opus.

What, you don’t remember Fred and Wilma Flintstone posing in front of it? Well, here’s how it looked in its more natural state.

The Jaguar XKR

The coolness factor went up considerably with the first of two actual cars, this one from 2002’s “Die Another Day.” To be honest, as far as I can find out without having the movie handy, it appears that Mr. Bond never actually drove this car. Instead, he was nearly done in by it, as suave bad guy Zao (Rick Yune) tried his best to deprive 007 of his license to live.

Of course, if Spider-Man and Spider-Girl had been along for the ride, things might have gone a bit differently. Or not.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante

It would have been way too much to expect the original and greatest James Bond supercar, the Aston Martin DB5 from 1964’s “Goldfinger” (AKA the most famous car in the world). Still, we got close enough for Comic-Con with the amazing Aston Martin V8 from 1977’s “The Living Daylights,” one of two Bond outings starring Timothy Dalton.

It might not have been as famous as the original Bond car with its built-in machine guns and ejector seat but, at least in terms of numbers, it out-gadgetted the original. The Volante in the film came come complete with, among other features, guided missiles, tire-slashing lasers, and a self-destruct capability in case everything went to hell in a hand basket.

It was our determination that only James Bond himself was cool enough to stand in front of an Aston Martin of this caliber. Since we didn’t happen to spot him wandering the convention floor, this one stands alone.

Bond girls Olga Kurylenko and Caterina Murino were on hand to celebrate the 50th anniversary of James Bond and unveil Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s BOND 50 Blu-ray collection at CES 2012 in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Check out the video above for a promo for the new Blu-ray along with discussions with three of the directors of the Bond films.

Ukrainian beauty Olga Kurylenko is an actress and model based in Paris, and she appeared in “Quantum of Solace.” As you can see from the photo below she can handle a gun!